Bastille play intimate London gig for war charity

LONDON (Reuters) - Just over a hundred lucky fans gathered in a London flat on Monday night to sing along with British electro-pop quintet Bastille at a special gig for the War Child charity.

The intimate show was part of the Sofar Sounds events - small, exclusive gigs that are held in carefully selected spaces in more than 50 cities worldwide.

The band, winners of the BRIT awards 2014 breakthrough act, played such hits as "Things We Lost In The Fire", "Laura Palmer" and "Pompeii".

"We haven't done anything like this for a long time. It's been very special for us and it's a pleasure to do something different," singer-songwriter Dan Smith said after the show.

"It is nice that we all live in London, we can walk into a tube and come to a gig."

Bastille and Sofar joined forces to raise funds for War Child, which aids children affected by conflicts and war across the world. Fans made donations to enter a ticket lottery.

"The big part of that was our contribution to War Child, of course, because, you know, our job is completely ridiculous and is a bit of a joke, so anything that we can do to get involved with something serious like that is nice," Smith said.

Bastille played one of their first shows with Sofar in 2011, when the band was starting out. This time they were supported by emerging band To Kill a King, which played an acoustic set.

Bastille's debut album "Bad Blood" was released in 2013 and brought them international recognition. They were nominated for the Best New Artist at the 2015 Grammys but the award went to a fellow Brit, Sam Smith.

"We kind of still see ourselves as a new band and it is probably quite sad that we are not seen as one anymore," Dan Smith said.

With the Sofar gig closing the Bad Blood tour, the band is planning to return to the studio to record a new album.

"We want to make a record that is completely different from the last one," Smith said. "We hope it will be an evolution of what we have done before."

Bastille will headline a dozen festivals across Europe and Latin America this summer, including German's Rock im Park.